Another Lifetime to go

21st November 2020

I removed the two bags of ready mix concrete that had been in the back of the truck for the last couple of days. I wanted to fix the last piles into the ground to support the secondary decking frame. Once these are secured I can finish attaching the joists thus completing the frame build.

I had to remove a lot of soil from the decking area to reduce the height and allow space below the joists, then move it down to the bottom end of the garden where the wild flower beds will be.

I was backwards and forwards with the little trolley chasing the dogs when they happened to be out, you would think they would be used to it by now, but no, they run away like they’ve never seen it before.

I had a rest from furniture for the day although I had a problem with the top of the buffet where it was sticky, I left it much longer than I usually, but to still wasn’t right, not sure what is happening.

Sometimes it is best to leave it and do other things.

20th November 2020

I have been around the sun sixty nine times and my arms are tired.

Every year I reflect on the road I have traveled, ticking off the good and the bad aspects of my life. Some I had control over and some I did not.

It’s a time that I think about my mum and dad wondering if they would be proud of what I had become or critical of things I could have done. In the same way I look at my own children’s voyage of discovery, and how I am proud of them for how they turned out.

I think about my working life, the people who inspired me, gave me opportunity and let me prove myself.

I think about the places I’ve been lucky enough to visit, I remember standing on the side of a wide road in India thinking how I got there, and how indeed I was going to cross it.

I never thought about retirement, it was always one step away, and such a long way to go.

I think about my school friends that I’ve re-connected with, I’ve learnt about their paths, their achievements and if life turned out well for them.

All this might seem over sensitive, and self- indulgent, but it’s something we all need to confront.

I have been living my new life for three years, and it’s been so exciting, each day is new and challenging, I have my list of jobs on the house I want to do, and a garage full of furniture that needs my help. I continue to learn new skills, and still make mistakes, but I don’t care, I have time to put it right.

Kelli gave me a head mounted spotlight, a great device for seeing in dark corners, it makes me look like a Dalek.

For my birthday treat she made me a blueberry pie. I had never had one, but I alway use to say “Blueberry pie Ma” in my worst American accent, it was wonderful.

Because of the restrictions re-imposed on dining out, we opted for a take out delivery, I had fish and chips, and inhaled them, savouring each mouthful.

Later that evening, as I was resting and reading my book, came a cry from the kitchen.

Kelli was filling a carafe with elderberry juice, freshly stewed when the bottom fell away, spilling a good pint of the juice all over her and the kitchen floor.

We have a spoonful of the juice every evening because it is known to help our immune system, unfortunately we will have to go without until a new delivery arrives.

19th November 2020

It was a windy night, blowing over the wheely bin and spilling its contents over the driveway.

So my first job was to tidy it up, fortunately since we compost most of our rubbish, all that I had to collect was the bags of recycling.

I had a bit of catching up to do, I had some wood sealing to do and try to get the watermarks out of the buffet top.

I wasn’t confident that applying oxalic acid would do much as the top had already had a stain applied, but it was worth the try.

Adding the crystals to boiling water makes for a toxic mix, carefully applied to the complete surface and allow to dry. I switched on my work lights to add some heat to the proceedings and waited.

As the liquid dries it leaves a white frosting over the surface, this has to be washed off and allowed to dry.

The results were, a success! I was able to re-stain it and get back on track.

Kelli went off to do some shopping, and came back with a bag of savoury scones that she had a friend make especially for me in advance of my birthday.

Now at my time of life, food of any description is welcomed, well that goes for wine equally.

That was a fantastic surprise, and another good reason why I married her.

I did a bit of leaf clearing, the city still hasn’t sent round the boys to remove the piles of leaves that house owners have swept on to the side of the road. It has been weeks since people have started doing that. That is why I kept complaining that it was all blowing back.

I have used our yard waste bin to get rid of a lot of ours.

Most of the trees are now bare, but somehow I still find piles of leaves tucked around the corner by the front door, I guess the wind creates a cyclone effect and sucks all the remaining debris there.

I filled a couple of plastic sacks, compressing them with my foot, like I was putting on a giant sock. I know tomorrow there will be another pile to collect.

18th November 2020

There is nothing more annoying than finish staining a top only to see a watermark appear.

I know one was there, but I thought it had sanded out. I usually apply oxalic acid to a surface when there is a mark that I can’t remove by any other method, but this time i should have done it anyway, bloody annoying.

It was the day for staining, I did the top and drawer fronts for a dresser that we had for a while, at least that went well.

I fitted the knobs to the quirky dresser to finish that one, Kelli sent a picture off to the person who wanted it, and she was delighted, so this will be collected at the weekend.

I was disappointed that there was no Stein night, this had become our regular night out and one that I started to look forward from Thursday morning.

I have been seeing pictures from the HM Refurbished London showroom, most of which show a lot of the Hay products. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I know the working office has changed a lot, but now everywhere will look like a DFS warehouse.

I’m impressed with the products that Bisley have launched to support home working, I’m not sure if it will be profitable unless companies stump up the cost of them for their employees.

Homes in the UK are usually tight for space, which has alway been the problem when scaling down office furniture. Even a chair that doesn’t seem so big in an open office, is enormous when you try to carry it up the stairs.

In the US most homes have more space than they know what to do with, except us, who have a relatively compact house, I want to make a home office piece to fit our place,it is on my list to make, once I clear the one thousand and one jobs already on it.

17th November 2020

I looked out the bedroom window at the sprinkling of snow upon the decking frame.

The light dusting came as a surprise, and reminded me of the surface of a mince pie.

God I miss mince pies, these are treats that never made it here, much to my disappointment. I tried to explain the concept to Kelli who was confused by the term “mince” meaning meat here. The more I tried to describe it, the more my mouth salivated at the thought.

I knew I was casting wheat on to rough ground, so I disappeared into my own memories “one day, one bloody day I’ll find one”

I let the dogs out into the back garden, a shaft of cold air shocked me out of my day dream, as the dogs were begging to be let back in almost straight away.

Hash browns were off the breakfast menu due to a shortage at the supermarket. It’s like March all over again with panic buying frenzy ahead of further restrictions due to be enforced on Wednesday. The state has spiked with high levels of infections again, and the only language these thicko’s understand is a partial shutdown of restaurants and un-essential shops, so bang goes my Stein night.

We still get our shopping delivered, so we are at the mercy of the person picking our supplies if they can find stuff.

There was an interview with a nurse on the radio who told of people sick with the virus, and on their death beds still not understanding they have Covid, they still believe it’s a made up hoax, what tragic deniers they are.

We planned out our day, there were several pieces in progress, including the quirky dresser that needed some attention to the drawers to make them close better.

I also wanted to finish the repair to the buffet that Kelli got yesterday. I had set in a new piece of wood and had to shape it and blend it in.

The piece is obviously quite old, it had a partial label on the back panel. The details that could be deciphered was “ Harley Smith Furniture of Grand Rapids” I tried to get some information on the company that appeared to have disappeared in 1950, but little is known about them.

Kelli went off to take some returns to be collected, and returned with four chairs, more bloody chairs!!, we have so many chairs we could stage a concert. She says that we should be able to sell them on quickly, famous last words.

16th November 2020

There was a furniture piece we had to collect from Zeeland, that Kelli found last night. It looked to be Mid century buffet that had seen better days. The top was a little scratched and a door had been torn off, this will require some sensitive repair.

It was a weighty beast that was almost at Kelli’s limit, but with sheer determination we loaded it into the truck, then off to Menards to subject the Toyota to even more heavy loads.

I needed another twelve eight foot joists to complete the side section of the decking frame.

I lashed them to the roof rack and we drove them steadily home.

I unloaded the timber, and Kelli made a start stripping the paint from a large dresser that we were given for free back when the weather was warm.

I started scraping the old finish from our new arrival. It is a satisfying feeling to drag a scraper across the top and hear the crunchy sound of the old finish becoming a powder. Within half an hour it was done, then I could turn my attention to the damage area around one of the doors. My only option was to cut out the old area and set in a new block of wood. I chipped away until i had made a niche to fit in a new piece of wood.

For dinner Kelli used up the rest of our harvested potatoes, now they are just a distant memory in my tummy.

15th November 2020

The wind was fierce, it was just the day to stay in the warm.

We had a customer coming to collect the white dresser, so as usual there was the frantic rush to make sure it was perfect.

Whilst we were waiting we made a start on the quirky dresser Kelli had found yesterday.

I brushed on a coat of sealer on to the stripped top whilst Kelli painted the drawer fronts.

When the people arrived to collect the dresser, one of them was interested in the quirky piece, so a sale looked promising.

We decided to take the dogs to the beach, it would be gale force down there, but we just had to go and experience it.

I have never seen the lake so rough, the wind was blowing sand into our faces, the forces of nature were certainly going crazy.

Getting back into the warm was a relief, the hot meal that Kelli made certainly warmed the cold bits.

What was wonderful was she used some of the potatoes from our grow bags. That made it really special, and the tasted great. Considering the cost of the growing mixture they were the most expensive potatoes on the planet.

14th November 2020

We managed to photograph two completed dressers, and make a start on the quirky piece.

It appears to be made of plywood, the top has overlapping sections of veneer making an interesting pattern. The whole design inspires us to go a little crazy with the finish.

I cleaned up the back garden of old leaves and the old plants, and managed to concrete in two of the piles of the new section of the decking, I need to make another five to complete the support.

I have started to remove some of the turf from the new decking area, and move it to the bottom of the garden where we want to have a wild flower meadow. This will be a raised hillock to give it a bit of interest by adding height, its not exactly Capability Brown, but its a start, the ornamental lakes may take some time.

Today, in a few large cities, was the Trump March. This is some feeble effort to save Trump’s presidency. Thousands of mindless saps have wasted their time by trying to overturn the election results.

These fanatics can be spotted a mile away, they rarely wear masks, because it infringes their constitutional rights.

These people are the reason why the virus can spread. They ignore all the warnings, because they are protected by God.

Don’t get me started on that one. The comments on Facebook go on about praying for Trump and his family, like he deserves it.

But these mindless zombies are incapable of thinking sensibly.

The typical Trump profile consists of women who look like men, and men that look like bears. They deck their trucks with stickers and flags. They proudly wear their tacky MEGA caps, courtesy of a Chinese sweatshops.

They don’t understand the principle of a

Universal healthcare system, they don’t understand The Green New Deal. They have been told that there will be oil, so no cars or aircraft flying, houses will be torn down and rebuilt with better insulation, and there will be no more hamburgers, because there will be no more cows. Windmill will cause cancer, and they will have to give up their guns.

I cannot listen anymore to all their bleating, and I’m not even an American.

All I know is that Trump has been making it difficult for me to get my residency, new parts of the process are added all the time.

He has mucked up the Covid response, and I am scared, fortunately we have a robust procedure that we follow, but that’s not the point, I do not want to die in America, I have a lot of things still to do (finish the decking for one).

I do not know what the following year has in store, I would like to think that everyone accepts the new president and gets down to build a better America.

13th November 2020

It was bloody cold today, my nose was leaking pretty bad until the garage warmed up, thank goodness for insulation and draught-proofing.

I continued adding more finish to drawer fronts and the dresser top whilst Kelli repainted the green dresser into a white one.

I managed to burn most of my scrap wood using a little mineral spirit as a starter. I like to watch the five foot flame shoot skyward. I thought about burning leaves, but the thick smoke that I created made me chicken out.

Kelli popped out to get some provisions, and of course had to visit Goodwill on the way. She found this strange dresser for $5. Under most circumstances it was a bargain, it was covered in black paint, but I was curious to find out what was underneath. I scratched around for a while getting nowhere, this will be an interesting piece if I can find the energy to strip it.

12th November 2020

We drove to Lowes to buy some drawer guides for the dresser that was ready for sale.

This is the only place that stock these plastic moulded parts that attach to the back of the drawer body guiding it along a track and keeping it parallel.

They were soon fitted and the dresser was finished and ready to post.

There was quite a lot of activity on Marketplace as potential buyers were making offers. Some came into the arena only to disappear, but we finally picked on a couple from the North side, who came straight over money in hand.

I still had the veneer drawer fronts and a top to finish on another dresser that I’m hoping will be ready by the weekend.

I moved the other decking frame into position, and clamping it ready for the final attachment.

Kelli then decided to repaint the other dresser, as it hadn’t sold quickly enough for her.